Updated October 11, 2015 at 3:48 PM;Posted October 11, 2015 at 3:43 PM

NLDS Mets Dodgers Baseball

New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada is taken off the field after being hurt in a double play against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the seventh inning in Game 2 of baseball's National League Division Series, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
(Gregory Bull)

Look at that slide. As Mets third baseman David Wright said following the 5-2 Dodgers victory.

"I have a problem with the play on a number of different levels -- one being the slide itself. In my opinion, he wasn't anywhere close to the bag."

Wright makes an excellent point. If Utley were merely sliding hard into second base, then this would have been nothing more than an unfortunate injury due to two teams, and two players going all out to win a crucial postseason game.

The thing is, Utley wasn't sliding into second base. Look at that replay. Utley's slide was not into the base, it was into Tejada. Had Tejada been standing over second base, then Utley might have a case.

Rarely can one say that an entire series can turn on the results of one bad call. It is still too early to determine whether or not that will be the case, but even if the Mets bounce back and win the series, they're still going to be without the services of their starting shortstop for the remainder of the postseason.

Injuries are a part of the game. Every athlete and fan is aware of that. Some injuries simply don't have to happen. This was one of those cases, and Major League Baseball should take action to levy some sort of fine or suspension at Utley.

Let's be clear here: His primary intent was to slide into Tejada, not the base. That's not what baseball is about.

A few years ago Major League Baseball took action to ban collisions at home plate. The catalyst for that was a collision at home plate that resulted in a season ending injury to Giants All-Star catcher Buster Posey.

There's little question that Scott Cousins intended to barrel into Posey. Nonetheless, Posey was partially blocking the plate, and Cousins was to an extent attempting to slide into the base.

Saturday night's incident wasn't even that close. Utley intentionally deviated away from second base. He went so far from the base that he never even touched it. At least Cousins touched home plate after he ended Posey's season.

Major League Baseball has a problem here. They can't afford to ignore Utley's slide. If they do they'll be sending a message that base runners need not slide into the base, they can feel free to slide into the infielder, even if they never so much as touch the base they were allegedly trying to reach.

Worse still, this is not the first time that Utley has been involved in a slide that had questionable motives. Mark W. Sanchez of The New York Post documented Utley's history of slides that appear to be far too focused on colliding with the infielder, and not nearly focused enough on getting to the base.

As of Sunday afternoon, Major League Baseball had not made any decision regarding disciplinary action against Utley. There's little excuse for dragging their feet.

Utley's slide might not have been illegal, but it certainly should be. Major League Baseball players deserve to have rules in place that protect them from overt acts intended to do nothing else than increase the likelihood of an injury.